Monochromatic
by Ryou Shirogane
Summary: Sequel to Dreaming in Color. Ryou finds himself struggling with his marriage to Ichigo. However, the boys' experiment introducing human genes into Red Data animals might just change everything. For better or worse.
1. Introduction: Outlines

_(Author's Note: This story is a sequel to "Dreaming in Color". If you have not read it, you may wish to do so, as many occurences lead up to this point and it helps to be familiar with those events. This story will have quite a bit of fluff, although nothing to push it over the edge into "scary" or "explicit" territory. The story starts with Ryou and Ichigo married. He is about 26 at this point while she is 24. Reviews are greatly appreciated, although this chapter is mostly just a short introduction and summary of what happened between the two stories; to let you all know I didn't forget about this. Thanks.)_

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**Monochromatic.**

**I. Introduction - outlines.**

I must have awoken sometime around 5AM. It was still dark outside, with the moon casting a faint glow over the bedsheets and highlighting the soft features on the face across from me. I let my breath come out slowly, reaching my bare arm across her to push into the small of her back and bring her closer to me. Or me to her; I couldn't tell which it was.

I knew that she was still sleeping due to her occasional quiet murmurings. They never made much sense other than to alert me to the fact that she was indeed asleep and that I should just let her stay that way.

There are a lot of things about Ichigo Shirogane that the average person doesn't know. At first glance she seems the stereotypical friendly - but stubborn - ditz who does stupid things to make people smile and who has a strong sense of justice. Surely, she was not a girl worth taking seriously... However, in the past eleven years she has proven me wrong. Horribly wrong. So that now I can appreciate just how amazing a woman can be, whether or not she has special powers.

Mew Ichigo was never completely forgotten, however, she became like a memory or a short-lived dream. A private success in the back of my mind. After all, as Mew Ichigo, the girl sleeping beside me had managed to not only destroy the last Chimera, a reminder of my own personal nightmares, but she had managed to set the two of us free from the Iriomote Wildcat DNA that had once resided in us. With that the Mew Project had come to an end. An end I could take pride in, and one that I felt my parents could be proud of as well. That chapter of my life was over, and the girls and I could return to living normal lives - and as it turned out, those lives resided closely to one another. Ichigo Momomiya, who had once hoped of becoming a rising star and idol, became sensible and decided that she would much rather get a real job that was closer to real people. As it was, she married and became an elementary school teacher while coming into Cafe Mew Mew in the evenings to take up her old job as a waitress.

I, on the other hand, had not given up on my big (and often times selfish) dreams for the fields of biotechnology and genetics. I soon decided that I'd rather return to doing independent research and so left my teaching position at the University of Tokyo to make time for the necessary experiments. Experiments that had for the most part turned out to be huge disappointments. I was frustrated. But Keiichiro returned from another dig in Africa, and Masaya Aoyama, having decided that studying and doing research in regards to Red Data Animals was his calling, joined the bandwagon. So, the three of us decided to undertake one of these dreams of mine together. A dream that would take us far from Tokyo and the people closest to us. A dream I would later come to regret.

Ichigo stirred then, thick lashes fluttering to reveal warm chocolate-colored eyes. A small smile graced her lips in her half-conscious state as she nestled into me, resting her head against my bare chest and kissing it delicately.

"Go back to sleep, Ryou..." she murmured. I couldn't tell if her eyes were still open or not from her postion, but the feel of her skin against mine was pleasant and somehow relaxing. That alone began to lull me back under the spell of unconsciousness.

"Okay," I complied, shutting my eyes.

**That was the last night I spent with my wife.**


	2. Thesis 1: Departure

_**Author's Note:** Hey everyone. I've finally got a grip of what I want from this story, and it's going to have some fluff scenes. I hope that these will be somewhere SAFELY in between the usual fluff you find and the lemons in the M section. There will be NO LEMONS! I'm not into that. So, some scenes may contain nudity, but I will handle them in a tasteful way, and things will only be implied, so it shouldn't make younger audiences feel uncomfortable. This is a relationship between two adults, after all, so it might be a little different than usual. I also feel I may have gotten characters OOC, so please tell me if you see any problems. I was in a bit of a hurry to fill out this chapter so I could post it. And... reply to a review._

_**This is the part that made no sense whatsoever:** Last night? Say what? Regret? And ya know what? you also may be onto somethin' here! Maybe there's one... he's still-powers... oh, sorry. never mind I was rambling._

_And: Your stories are my secret source!Yeah! Back to perky-ness! Anywho, are you.. phsycic(sp?)? 'Cause I just got this gut feeling. Are you SURE you've never met Ryou?_

_**Answer:** Um, if you'd like to better explain what you were trying to say, that'd be great, because I don't get it when you remain vague and interrupt yourself. As for the final question: I **AM** Ryou. Cough. No, not really._

_I have been a Ryou fan since around 2003, when I made Platinum Blonde (fansite) and also started roleplaying as him (and his mom, actually) in Kokoro Mew RPG, both of which are still around today. A lot of my online friends call me the "Ryou Expert" or a "Shiroganist" since I like coming up with theories (known as "fanon") about Ryou and his family. If you're a fan of him, you've probably seen a lot of my stuff around without realizing it. So, since I'm not Mary Poppins, I obviously have not "met" him, but I've tried to get inside his head more than a few times with varying degrees of success._

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**Monochromatic.  
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II. Thesis 1 - departure.**

When I woke up again, I was laying in bed by myself. The sheets had been brushed aside when Ichigo had risen from bed some moments before, her shape still imprinted in the mattress. Craning my neck so that I could see to the far side of the room, I discovered Ichigo standing before the mirror. The image made something flutter deep in my chest and it took a moment before I could force the feeling away. Truly, Ichigo was stunning no matter what she was wearing, or, as it were, not wearing. Her crimson hair had been recently brushed and it flowed down the back of her neck to curl loosely below her shoulders and just above her ample bustline. She moved in the pale morning light with a sort of grace that I would have thought impossible for someone like her who was always stumbling over her own two feet and bumping into things when she was in a hurry. Which was often. But there she was... (what I later decided was) perfect, serene, and completely out of my reach.

The once-was catgirl must have caught the movement out of the corner of her eyes, for she had doned a towel and walked back over to where I was.

She scowled at me, "It's rude to watch people all silent and serious like that! Makes you seem like a pervert or something."

I raised an eyebrow at that, feeling somewhat offended and wishing in the back of my mind that the calm expression on her face hadn't disappeared so quickly, "It's your own fault for not waking me up, Strawberry. And I'd hope you'd be wise enough not to marry someone like that in the first place."

Ichigo's eyes look firey for a moment as she flicked my nose roughly, something that she had grown accustomed to back when we were teenagers and I had teased her relentlessly - and so had I, after she decided to pick up the habit herself.

"Good morning?" It was a weak attempt to smooth things over as I tried to pull her back into bed with me.

Ichigo looked annoyed, but let herself sink into my lap, her arms reaching around my back where she locked her thin fingers together, yet she kept a space between us.

"Good morning," she returned. She was pouting, and I figured it was probably her regretting caving in to my own demands.

I pulled her closer then, kissing her lips several times before she caved further and began to return said affection. She was still warm from having just taken a shower, and she smelled and felt very clean and somehow brand new. Maybe it had been an effect of the cat DNA, but I couldn't stand to not take a shower myself any less than twice a day.

I let a sigh escape, something that caused her to giggle in her typical Ichigo fashion. For some reason the woman thought it adorable and out-of-character that I would let down my defenses for her. Me. The cool and distant Ryou Shirogane. I honestly didn't mind it too much as long as the rest of the world remained in the dark about it.

She kissed my forehead one last time before pulling away from me and getting to her feet again.

"You're hopeless," she announced, although she was smiling at me.

"So are you," I replied, "In fact, I bet you enjoyed last night even more than I did."

My remark was met with the sound of a hairbrush thudding against the wall behind me as she missed hitting my head.

"Ryou Shirogane, you jerk! I'm changing! Get out now!" she screamed, her cheeks flaring redder than I had ever seen them. It was then that I quickly grabbed my robe and flew from the bedroom.

* * *

Mint and Pudding were laughing after I explained to them why I had come downstairs wearing a robe and little else, my hair poking out in every direction except the correct one. I could see Keiichiro working in the kitchen, covering his mouth with the back of his hand, trying to remain polite.

"Well, what did you expect, Ryou? You don't suggest things like that to a girl. If it was me, you'd be sprawled unconscious on the floor right about now. You're lucky she gave you a chance to run," Mint lectured, tugging at the edge of her sleeve where the lace had rolled up.

Pudding just shook her head, the hair accessories in her numerous braids clacking together, "Tsk tsk. Ryou-oniichan should learn to be more of a gentleman. Pudding could get Ron-oniichan to teach him manners, no da!"

I thought back to the man who had come to challenge Pudding and who had later declared that he was to become her fiance. Even now, supposedly, he was the blonde girl's betrothed. But I knew better. I could tell she thought about the alien Tart often - every time she delivered the pastry of the same name to one of our customers. Sometimes she'd take longer than necessary taking out the trash, too. I figured she stood there and admired the vast sunset when she did so and wondered how long it would take to get to the aliens' planet if she had a spaceship. Ron Yuebin was pleasant somehow, and the girls had all flocked to him, amazed by both his strength and his smile. It made me sort of sick... guys like that. Even Ichigo had been dazzled at the time. Lessons from a guy like that... I definitely didn't want them. It'd be worse than taking Keiichiro's advice on being a gentleman.

"No thanks," I responded, casting my eyes darkly on the floor.

Mint groaned, crossing her arms and making her way back into the kitchen, "You men are all the same."

"Mint-oneechan means that Ryou-oniichan fails na no da," Pudding translated for me as she bounced across the floor and over to a group of girls who had just walked in.

I shook my head, entering the male changing room and sliding on a pair of black slacks, shoes, and a nice button-up cotton shirt. I looked like Keiichiro, but it was better than walking around in a robe and receiving stares from the customers.

When I emerged, Keiichiro immediately handed me a tray of desserts and motioned me towards a table in the back corner.

After delivering the cakes, I returned to the kitchen and rested my weight against the counter top. Keiichiro glanced back at me momentarily.

"Have you told Ichigo-san yet?" he asked.

I was silent for a moment before catching onto what he was asking and then shook my head, "No, not yet."

"Aren't you going to, Ryou?"

"Well, a good time hasn't exactly come up yet," I admitted with a sigh, "She wasn't in a great mood this morning to say the least, and the news won't exactly lighten her spirits."

"Unless she wants you gone," Mint retorted as she took a tray from Keiichiro, sent me an all-knowing look, and then glided back out.

"We're leaving tomorrow, Ryou. I think you should tell her now."

"I know," I muttered, tapping my fingers against the table, "I'd like to tell her everything, but, I don't think it's possible."

Keiichiro had finished icing a cake and went to rinse off a knife as he recited, "Honesty is the best policy."

I groaned shortly and shifted my arms so that I was leaning on them again, "Not really. Honesty gets people in trouble all the time."

"Still, it's best to be honest, you know that. Get it off your chest."

"Okay... what's going on?" came a cross voice behind me. The both of us turned our heads simultaneously to see Ichigo standing there with her arms folded. And she was not happy.

"I'll leave this to you, Ryou. I have a cake to deliver," Keiichiro said smoothly, "Please go easy on him, Ichigo-san."

I made a face, "Gee, thanks."

"Ryou, what exactly do you need to 'get off your chest'? Have you been lying to me?" I could tell that the strawberry girl's suspicions were rising by the second.

I sighed, giving her a helpless look which she ignored completely.

"You jerk. You'd better tell me," I heard her hiss.

"Fine," I muttered defeat, "But can we talk about it elsewhere?"

"Outside?"

"All right."

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Outside the air was crisp, but pleasant. Ichigo bounced over to the hammock which had recently been installed beneath two trees and seated herself there, turning defiant eyes on me, and then her more cheery mood again vanished. She regarded me with a look that could not be mistaken for anything other than a very unamused feline. A sort of collected anger that blazed in her eyes and was only hinted at in her features. Silent. Still. Ready to strike.

I frowned and leaned back against the wall, "Where should I begin?"

"Anywhere."

"Well, Keiichiro, Aoyama, and I are going away."

"Where?"

"South America, actually," I stated quietly.

"So why are you going? Akasaka-san's the archaeologist."

"Yes, but..." I explained, straightening so that my weight again rested on my feet as I began pacing back and forth across the lawn, "This isn't about archaeology."

"So, what is it about?" she asked, her face softening a bit.

"You remember when I said that Red Data Animals have a strong will to preserve their kind?"

"Yeah."

"Well, we're gathering samples from more species. The rainforests are full of rare animals."

"But, there's no threat. The aliens are gone. The..." she paused, "...THAT was defeated."

"But there are still species disappearing. The Earth is still in a dismal state in respect to the planet the aliens once knew. The Earth still needs protection."

Ichigo considered this and nodded, "But, can't you do that here in Tokyo?"

I shook my head, "Not this particular step in the experimentation process, no. We can't export these animals out of the country."

"When are you leaving? How long will it take?"

"I'm not sure how long. Tomorrow."

"Tomorrow?!" Ichigo stared at me in shock, then her anger returned, "Ryou! Why didn't you tell me sooner?!"

"I didn't know how to."

"Don't you think I'd want to know that my husban-- and even after I-- Ryou!!" she yelled my name again, fuming.

"I'm sorry."

"I can't believe you!" she screamed, bolting from her seat and stumbling back towards the back door that I had left open.

"I said I'm sorry!" I shouted back, following along after her, "What else do you want me to say?"

"I don't know!"

"Well, think of something!"

"I said I don't know!" she repeated louder.

Finally managing to catch hold of her arm, I used the door frame to brace myself as she resisted.

"Let go," she demanded."

"Ichigo, I'm sorry. I knew you'd get mad so I didn't tell you right away."

"Were you going to leave WITHOUT telling me?" she asked, searching my eyes for hints of more lies.

"No. I would have told you tonight at least."

Ichigo sighed, "Don't keep secrets from me. You're always doing things on your own when you don't have to."

I released her arm then.

"We're all here for you," she continued, "At least I'm here for you. When you hide things it's like you don't even trust me."

"I trust you, it's just that..."

"If you trust me then please share your feelings with me for once," she explained, "I'm not going to laugh at you. You have some serious problems if you think that."

"I don't think that. I knew you wouldn't take it well, that's all."

"Okay."

We were silent for a while, the stillness filled only with the shuffling of feet and the clink of silverware and china.

"Is there anything else you want to tell me?"

"I love you...?" I ventured.

The redhead blinked a few times and finally broke into a smile, "Well, I suppose I can handle that."

"What about you?" I asked, a sly grin crossing my face.

Ichigo giggled and headed back into the dining area, adjusting the ribbon on her uniform, "Absolutely nothing. Too bad for you."

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The rest of the day passed as smoothly as can be expected. I did, however, catch Ichigo staring off into thin air a few times, but I dismissed this as normal "Ichi behavior" as I called it, and thought little else of it until evening returned and my wife decided to pose another few questions. Questions that were more difficult to answer.

"Is this really all that important to you?" she asked, turning off the lights in the kitchen as I locked the front doors from the inside.

"Well, yeah," I responded, "Science is part of who I am. I can't very well sit around and collect dust."

Ichigo smiled briefly, but that soon faded. I pulled her into my arms. Her body felt stiff, as if she was a statue. Something in me was surprised that it bothered her so much that I was going to be leaving when we quarreled so often anyway.

I felt her relax then, as she turned around in my arms and began playing with the zipper on my vest, idly batting at it with her index finger.

"You're going to keep doing this to me aren't you? It's like you're never really here," she frowned, and I could tell she was thinking on this hard.

I didn't say anything for a while, during which time she had rested her head against my chest, her arms forming a sort of pillow for herself as she leaned against me.

"I'm not really sure," I finally answered.

I heard her suck in her breath. She looked pensive, "I guess you're not really the family man, type. I mean... the kind of person who would hang around and take care of his kids and-"

"I wouldn't say that. I just... don't think I'd be very good at it." A knot had formed in my throat. If only Mama and Papa were still around, then maybe the thought of starting a family wouldn't seem so strange. But honestly, I was scared of the idea. Terrified. I could never, ever be a good father to anyone. I knew that. It was simply... impossible.

Ichigo lifted her head and kissed my cheek, "Just... don't worry about it, okay?"

When I still made no comment aside from brushing a few strands of hair out of her face, Ichigo made another of her hundred pouting faces and punched my chest in annoyance.

It didn't hurt.

I let myself lean backwards against a wall, stroking her hair and occasionally twirling a few strands loosely around my fingers. I liked it when she left her hair down, since it was starting to grow long. She looked more beautiful that way.

"Do you ever regret it?" she asked suddenly.

"Hm?"

She looked a little sad then, "I mean, do you ever wish I was still... you know... a cat?"

This posed an interesting question. Indeed, there was something attractive about Ichigo having cat ears and a tail, and the thought of having a pretty girl purring in my lap was certainly one worth entertaining. However, this was Ichigo. The girl I loved regardless of whether she was my "ultimate weapon" anymore or not.

"Well..."

"Well?" she prompted, starting to step away from me before I snaked my arms around her waist and brought her back to rest against me. Her face was so close, and I could see myself reflecting in her eyes. I brought my hands up to her cheeks, brushing against them gently and closing the gap further.

"You dummy. If you still turned into a cat whenever you got excited, I'd never get away with kissing you like this."

The minutes passed all too quickly. Before I knew it, the clock was chiming midnight.

"Let's go to bed," she suggested, "It's late."

"I can't. The plane leaves in three hours. I need to take a shower."

"I can't believe you! I thought you weren't leaving until tomorrow!"

"It technically is tomorrow, and-"

"Forget it."

She simply slid out of my fingers and shut herself up in the bathroom. Due to this, I was late taking a shower and getting changed and therefore also late arriving at the airport where the girls, Keiichiro, and Aoyama were already waiting. I imagined Keiichiro had told them that the flight was departing at 3AM. I was, however, surprised that everyone had shown up. Everyone... minus one.

Ichigo had refused to come entirely. Something that sat poorly with me - like a bad omen.

"Where's Ichigo, Ryou-san?" Lettuce asked, looking a bit confused by this turn of events.

"She didn't want to come."

"That doesn't sound much like Ichigo," Aoyama commented, glancing over at me with a mixture of worry and something else I could not decypher.

"Yeah, well, she was angry to say the least. But, we can't hang around waiting for her. The next flight isn't for days," I explained.

"Ah, funny you should say that, Ryou, when it was you who arrived last," Mint spoke up, tightening her grip on Zakuro's arm.

I decided not to respond to her remark.

"Well, shall we go?" Keiichiro asked to which I nodded.

"Be careful," Zakuro said. Those were the only words she spoke the whole time I was present.

"Don't forget to phone us, please," Lettuce requested with a bow.

Pudding piped in, "Have fun with the science equipment na no da! Pudding will mail you her family's special relaxation tea, no da! Helps with stress!"

"No worries, we'll handle things here," Mint waved an arm delicately.

I nodded at them lightly, then grabbed my things and followed Keiichiro and Aoyama to the place where we would be boarding. It was too bad Ichigo had refused to come. But then, I had expected her to get upset. It was mostly my fault anyhow. I'd call her later to see how she was doing.

I watched Tokyo fall away below me as the airplane rose into the air. The world I had become familiar with sank away below me, and so did my spirits as I realized I hadn't gotten to properly say goodbye because Ichigo had been too busy sulking to see me off.

"Shirogane-san, are you okay?" Masaya asked, placing a hand on my shoulder.

"Yeah, fine," I replied, "Just fine."

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_End of chapter one. Please help the "Save the Shiroganes" fund by writing a review! I'd like to know if I handled this alright so I can go back and tweak it if neccessary._


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